Technology has Agency too! Disentangling Technology's Causal and Structural Agency in a Service System

Abstract

This study explores how technology attains agency in a service system. By applying a systems view through the lenses of service-dominant logic and actor-network theory (ANT), we clarify and conceptualize resource and agency forms for a technology as it connects with other actors in a network as part of the value cocreation process. We conduct a qualitative study to explore a technology's role (i.e., VR-tours) in the residential real estate market. We find that VR-tour technology gains causal agency through others’ connection to and reliance on the technology. As value is determined, there is potential for structural agency, where it cocreates and transforms valuations, influencing actors to renegotiate their roles and practices and enabling value destabilization in the marketing system. Theoretical and macromarketing implications are discussed.